How the greatest adventure began
by Disneyholica24
Summary: How could two people so different become so close? One was a boy who became a cold criminal to survive and the other was a charming lad with a beautiful sister running away from a dark secret.What had brought them together? Fate? Destiny? Or perhaps it was all in the roll of the dice. This is the story of an unjust world that created the two greatest con-artist of all time.


How the greatest adventure began.

It was the 14th century in Spain when plenty of important things were going on that would change the course of history, including Christopher Columbus claiming to discover the Americas. At this crucial time in Spanish history when in a few years the Muslim rule could come to an end the birth of two boys would normally be overlooked but little did the community of Spaniards know how much these two beings would also change their life as they knew it.

The pregnancy of a woman should be a joyous occasion for everyone including the woman herself but for the poverty stricken Sancha Alfonso it was another burden for her to take on. Without much of a penny to her name she became concerned that this child would not have proper care. Add to the fact that the child's father had left made Sancha even more troubled. Alone and afraid, Sancha was willing to give the child up to someone who could take care of it. However, when the child was born she found she could not do such a thing.

Looking into his blue eyes she had no idea her son, given her father's middle name of Tulio, would be her downfall. In the more fortunate side of town where the wealthy lived there was a family of aristocratic socialites who were so rich that if they bled it would be solid gold. Yet it was that the wandering eye of the husband that would slander their good name. Yvette Beatriz Annette Garcia was the pretty maid of the Alfonso family but that was not her real name, it was the name she was forcibly given when she moved to Spain from England. Her name was really Edith Blakestrod but none of that mattered to Jose Alfonso when he set his eyes on her.

She had already come with a package, her beautiful daughter Mirabelle, whose name was converted to Maria, and she captures the hearts of many men who looked at her despite being only six years of age. Jose had wanted her at first but protective Yvette would not let any harm come to her only child, at least it was her only child. Months later Yvette, with no husband or lover to speak of, was suddenly pregnant. Jose's wife, Teresa, was furious but not at him. She wouldn't dream of her prosperous and religious partner doing something as unholy as breaking their marital vows, especially not with English trash like her. However it was true for there could be no denying it when brunette Yvette gave birth to a boy who had Jose's rare blonde hair.

Still, Teresa was adamant about the child belonging to some man Yvette slept with and allowed Yvette to stay there for she was a top notch maid and her daughter was just as good. The baby boy with his beautiful head of blonde hair was given and M name to match his sisters and it was to be Miguel. One would think that the path of the two boys, coincidently born on the same day, would only have that in common and never meet each other's paths. Destiny, playing cards in hand, had other plans for the young boys.

Five years later and a distraught mother deeply despises her only son, Tulio. She has regretted her choice of keeping the tyrant around for he is the worst child that the gods could ever bestow her with. Bad mouthing, rude, lying, stubborn, and to top it off he is a thief as well. It started out with him wanting to make his mother happy, to get her nice things and to have her living the life she wanted to live. However his thievery did the complete opposite. She was appalled that he would play Robin Hood for her sake and she cursed him for taking other peoples belongings. It was not the Christian way, she believed, and would make him return it post haste.

He never did. Instead he would trade his loot for gold and silver and at age six he became a sneaky little fox who could rob you blind. Sancha could take this felonious child no longer and being brutal she sent him out to live on the streets. He had begged her to let him back in, pounded on her door, cried and whined and said he was sorry all night. She didn't budge. Her cruelty was soon to be matched by his own. Left to virtually die outside in the cold he began to become cold himself. He realized then that his position in life, a poor boy with not even two pennies to rub together, was something to be ashamed of and made him a loathed creature. He longed for a life of luxury.

He yelled to his mother that she would regret doing this to him when he became rich and walked away. He never came back. Upon a hill in a place that Tulio could only dream of living in was the six year old Miguel and his twelve year old sister, steadily growing in beauty, Maria. They have a close bond with each other and with their homely yet kind hearted mother Yvette. Miguel is a star child, the kind of child every parent would love to have. He helps around the house, cooks, cleans, watches over the smaller children, feeds the animals, and always is helpful to a person in need. Even though he is poor he is content and happy and even though he has no gold his heart seems to be made of it. No mother could be any prouder of her children.

Miguel was allowed to play with the family children, all girls of course, but he treated them with the gentamanly kindness that could only be expected of a man who had deep respect for women. He did, though he was a touch of a flirt even at his young age but never went past calling them beautiful. He was polite and had a slight English accent thanks to his mother. He could never hurt a fly and was the calmest most considerate boy ever.

"May I get that for you?" He would always ask the family, trying to serve his purpose in their life.

Having not a son of their own the family doted on the boy and even would claim that this was their child from the start and Yvette could never have produced such a handsome, tow-headed, proper child. But one night he did something terrible, something he would have never ever done but had to do given the circumstances. He loved his family dearly and now with his mother pregnant again he grew protective of the unborn son. However Jose's wife was not about to let Yvette have another child and this time knew it was for certain her husband's. She simply could not let it happen. The spiteful, vengeful, evil women ordered her husband to kill the woman.

"No. I won't do it!" He shouted at her from across their room, refusing to take part in the murder of the woman he truly loved, who had birthed him the son he adored, and was carrying the other.

"You will do it or else I will cut you off from the family fortune!"

The true horror that hid inside Jose was greed. At that moment he chose money over his lover and her unborn child. He thought himself stealthy and he made sure the daughter was not in the same room. However he knew Miguel would do no harm to him. Not gentle Miguel who couldn't even smack away a bug. Not Miguel who never said no. Jose had miscalculated the love of a son and apparently, so had Miguel. Jose was dead and for nothing because Yvette was dead too. Horrified at his own actions, Miguel ran away with his sister in his hand and never looked back since.

Ever since then he had been a criminal and accepted it fully. What he had done was wrong and in some aspects his new life on the run had changed him. He would still give the shirt off his back to a stranger but now he had an edge on him that could make him conniving and cunning and the sheer innocence of his baby face was used to manipulate others. Starving and scared, Maria decided to sell herself for money. By this time Miguel was so numb to the world he didn't even care. His only friend was her and she partially hated him for getting them in this mess.

Two lonely, corrupted souls, lost in the midst of a criminal life would soon find solace in each other. About four years go by and the town is buzzing with talks of a young black haired boy pilfering their goods. His name becomes synonymous with burglary and his mother is put further into shame yet she feels she is partially to blame. She tried to get him to come back home but he spat on her feet and said,

"Hell no. Why would I come back to you? I'm living better than I ever could have lived with you. You cast me aside like garbage and now look at me, look at what I've become."

"Ay dios mio! I didn't create a child I created a monster!"

"I'm not a monster; I'm just trying to survive."

He left swiftly after that and decided that tomorrow night, the night of his birthday, he would celebrate like there's no manyana. At age ten he was drinking and smoking and even all the other children of the street were afraid of him. He had a tough, dark look in his eyes that was hungry. He would never kill anyone but he was temperamental, fussy, and an overall hothead. No one messed with the king of thieves and so he stood alone on his throne, not knowing that tomorrow would end his lonesome reign.

For Miguel life was no better, slumming in the streets, taking what he could get, and trying to please his now sixteen year old sister who was slowly wasting away because of her oversexed body and drug addiction. Somehow, through it all, she was still as gorgeous as ever and this made money easy to get. One night, the day before his birthday, she whispered to him,

"I wonder what he would have looked like."

"Who?" Miguel asked casually, leaning up against the wall with a terrible back ache.

"My other brother…"

Miguel stiffened up. His sister barely spoke and if she did it wasn't about the past, especially not about his mother or their unborn brother. He noticed then some tears in her eyes, the first in years. Miguel wondered too, what it would have been like, to have a brother. He placed his hand on top of hers and kissed it gently.

"Don't go thinking about that now. It's in the past."

"Miguel, mi hermano, have you ever wondered why god is so cruel?"

"He works in mysterious ways."

"Bullshit," She spat, looking at him in the eyes with her venomous green ones, similar to his. Some say green eyes are evil and Miguel could testify that at that moment she did look evil, "if I was god I would not have made Jose so evil. That bastard. He was a murderer and a pedophile. He should burn in hell but instead he's up there living it up. Why can't we be up there, happy and rich?"

"It's just how life is. We can't question god."

"Bullshit!" She hissed again. "I'm telling you Miguel, we are going to die here because of this god. We have no power, he does. He's the one who wants us to die. I hate god! I hate him!"

"Maria…I…"

Miguel paused. What should he say to her? She was empty of most feelings by now. She had lost her mother, her unborn brother, her life, and her innocence. Soon after she lost her faith and Miguel was tumbling down the same path. He curled her close to him and rubbed her shoulder.

"Hey now…tomorrow is my birthday….how about we have a party? Just like the old days. We can have a cake and everything. We can play pretend and you can be the princess."

"I want to be the queen," She hoarsely whispered, lighting up a cigar.

"You can be whatever you want. I'll even get you a present."

"But it's your birthday."

"I don't care," He tenderly said to her in her ear, "I'll get you a necklace made of pearls."

"Oh Miguel I've always wanted one! Will you really? I'll look so classy! Just like the rich people!"

"Anything for you."

The plan had been hatched and the next day he was about to act it out. If just to see the spark of joy in his sister's eyes one more time he would rob a jewelry store of their precious pearl necklace. She had looked so happy last night and Miguel wanted her smile to stay. He never cared about himself, he only cared about others. His sister was the only light in his life now. Until he broke through the window of the store, until he aroused the guard dog, until he realized that aside from the guard dog he was not alone, until he realized that another boy was there, and until he and the boy were suddenly running away from the authorities together.

"Hey get back here you kids!" The man in uniform shouted.

"Kiss my ass!" The other boy next to Miguel yelled.

He laughed high and wild, his smile so bright and big it shone like the sun. He was so full of life and power and confidence that it struck a note with Miguel. His overall brazen attitude and cocky nature mixed with his physical appearance was something Miguel found himself strangely attracted to. The boy himself with his wild black hair sloppily tied into a pony tail never thought his day would involve another boy.

Tulio had woken up early that day stating that he would need cash to get the essentials for his party. Liquor, women, food, and even more liquor. He was going to play a game with himself that he would steal some jewelry, hide it, and get so wasted that he would forget where it was. It would be quite the adventure trying to find it. His party was going to be the wildest ever but it had no guests. He could have threatened the neighborhood boys and girls but he thought to himself, 'I can party all by myself'. In comes this blonde haired kid in the jewelry store trying to steal some pearls, not even noticing him and Bam! Suddenly they are on the run together and it's exhilarating! Tulio had never seen this boy around before but was starting to enjoy his company by simply just having something in common with him.

"Did you know it's my birthday?" Tulio stated with a grin as they continued to run.

"Really? Mine too!"

They shared the same birthday and they were both the same age and they were both thieves. Yet something this small could not tie the boys together. Tulio was a loner. He didn't need anyone else, he didn't like anyone else. He hated people. Despised them. Life had dealt him an unfair card and so he was paying it back. When they turned a sharp corner and realized how quickly they got away from the guards and realizing they would get away from their crime they both looked at each other and laughed, still high off their escapade.

"Did you see the look on his face?!" Tulio laughingly asked, hands on his knees as he was shaking with laughter.

"I can't believe how easy that was! What a stupid guard."

"Clumsy too! He was tripping over his own feet!"

"He couldn't even keep up with two boys!"

"Oh god," Tulio sighed happily, lighting up which caused Miguel to look at him.

In that moment his laughter died and his attention was focused on the glowing light that reflected onto Tulio's handsome face showing all his stress, pain, suffering, anguish, and hatred toward the world and the darkness he carried with him. He had been wronged and done wrong. He was a criminal. He was misunderstood. He was lonely. He had nothing left. Miguel felt so akin to this boy, this bad boy who smoked and talked trash with a heavy air of "I don't give a fuck" about him.

"You're alright, kid," was what Tulio said before breaking out a bottle of half empty liquor that was on the counter of the jewelry store. It was cheap but it would do for now. "You have a name?"

Tulio slid down and sat on the floor, puffing out a perfect smoke ring, unfazed, uncaring, unemotional. Miguel sat down next to him, in awe of his demeanor, in awe of him in general. He was strong, he was frightening, he was powerful, and he was the type of guy that could lead you into buying anything. The perfect conartist was doing his biggest con of all, convincing himself that he didn't care about the boy next to him. In reality, in those moments just sitting there after Miguel had spilled his name, in the small minutes they sipped from the same bottle, Tulio was shedding his lone wolf skin. He felt happy and felt a certain comfort having another person with him.

"You know…" Tulio spoke as the moon began to rise, stretching out his legs and fondling a ruby, "I think I kinda like you, Miguelito."

Miguel's cheeks turned as red as the ruby. It bad been so long since anyone had liked him, had cared for him, had given him any attention, and he could honestly say that no one gave him a pet name before.

"If you like me you'd love my sister."

"You have a sister?!"

"Yeah…her name is Maria…in fact she's the reason I got these pearls…you see…"

"Woah woah…time out! Maria the prostitute?"

"Yup," Miguel dragged out, sipping from the bottle, trying to act as cool as Tulio but was an unsuccessful klutz.

"She and I had a fight because she wouldn't have sex with me because I'm too young. For a girl, she hits pretty hard," Tulio admitted, rubbing his arm.

"Yeah, that's my sister alright. You know…this has been the best birthday of my life."

"I'll drink to that," Tulio agreed, raising the bottle with a slight drunken slur.

From that day on they were inseparable. No two people were closer together than Miguel and Tulio, the biggest thieving conartists of Spain. In Tulio's life Miguel brought hope and love, something beyond what he could fathom, something he thought the world had none of, and in Miguel's life there was a friend, someone to care for, someone to understand him, and someone who brought him under his wing and taught him the ways of con artistry. The two had started out as the most unlikely of friends but ended up as the best of them. As they journeyed through life together they became closer and closer, sharing a relationship that most compared to a married couple.

Through storms, fights, and even becoming gods they were never apart and even when they were they were always on the others mind. They were partners, from here to the end. Now past their prime they are retired on an island in Cuba with their stolen treasures at their feet and Maria, giving them the life they deserve and both men had plenty of children and grandchildren who told stories of their epic adventures. Chel, Tulio's lover, was long gone by this point, as she had left him for bigger and better things. He bore no resentment to her; she did bear him two beautiful children before leaving. She just wasn't cut out for marital life. Perhaps he wasn't either. Miguel was a family man by nature and had a wonderful relationship with a girl from Barcelona.

Eventually she got taken by disease and left this earth leaving him alone but having his best friend there helped him. In the waning hours of daylight the two sit there on their front porch, playing a game and talking about the old days. Maria produced a tray with two glasses of scotch to the boys as it was a hot day that day. After receiving her thanks she kissed her beloved brother on his forehead who gently stroked the string of lovely pearls she sported around her neck before she left to relax.

"It's your move," Tulio stated, a bit dryly as he swirled around his scotch in a glass.

"Shut up and give me some time to think."

"You've been thinking for hours."

"You know I'm slow at this kind of thing, I'm not a genius like you."

"You flatter me. Reminds me of that time we traveled to the Bahamas and got cursed by some gypsies."

"And you were backed up against the wall with no way out but to seduce them!"

"Ah those were the days! We got away with so much back then."

"Well you were a sly one. Always were really. Ah, there I made my move."

"That was a bad move, Miguelito."

"Quiet, Tullito, before I whack you."

"Ah you couldn't whack a horsefly."

"Speaking of horses, I think it's time to feed Altivo Jr."

"That stupid horse can wait. Besides, just like his dad he likes to butt me in the ass. I moved."

"Hey…you moved ten spaces again….how do you keep getting ten spaces?"

"I dunno…just lucky?"

"Lucky my right foot!" Miguel yelled, grabbing the dice and looking at them harshly. "You sneaky little fiend."

"What? I didn't do it." Tulio innocently stated, battering his eyelashes.

"These dice are loaded!" Miguel openly accused and then both of them laughed for a good while. "Well…" He began as they were laughing, "I guess old habits die hard."

"You know me so well, partner."

"I also know you are the greatest friend a guy could ever ask for."

Tulio raised his glass to Miguel with the warmest of smiles, "Being your friend is the greatest adventure I could ever ask for."

Miguel raised his glass as well, smiling too, "I'll drink to that."

***A/N: well this was my first and presumably only El Dorado fan fiction; it was just a little thing I've wanted to do. So what do you think? If you don't like it don't comment but if you do then comment but if I feel I don't have enough comments I will probably take this down since it was just a little whatever. I always wondered about their pasts and how they met so this is what I came up with. Like I said, comment please 3***


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